At around the same time that the call for Street Machine Eliminator to lanes four and five went out, the news spread through the pits that the route sheet to Cordova Illinois was only 150 miles. Everyone was very relieved to hear it, for sure, following the two 260 plus mile jaunts we had made so far.
I'm not sure if it was the news of the short drive, the difficulty of doing a good burnout uphill (see the dramatic morning burnout shots I've posted by photog Larry Chen), or just the energy of the large group of spectators, but many of the "one and gone" crowd made multiple passes at Great Lakes Dragaway.

John was headed to the lanes when Dale and Darren showed up, they drove in one pit lane over from us, then drove across the lush grass to pit beside the Valiant. Boone, despite making a trip to pick up oil, made it to the pits just five minutes after they did. Everyone was busy prepping their cars for our first run when we heard them announce Tony's second attempt, a 10.65 at 126.8.
"Think he'll stick with that", Dale asked me.
"I doubt it, he's been in the thirties". I shrugged.
The very next announcement was that the lanes were closed for the class cars.
"He might take that and move on", I changed my mind, "He didn't get much sleep last night, so I don't think he'll want to stick around for the all-run session".
The next announcement was that the parts needed for Daryl Yost's Chevelle were located in the pits, and he could pick them up at the tower. Once again, a timely Drag Week PA shout out for help had saved someone's day.

The very last class car to run in the first session was the flat black 72 Dart, that was leading Pro Street Power Adder. As Matt expertly traversed the tricky burnout box, and staged for a single pass, an anticipatory hush fell over the crowd. He launched the Dart at full song, and the track held it quite well, so it was immediately apparent that this run was going to be a keeper. The 7.70-185 was nearly identical to the pass Blasco made at Indy, proving that the Mopar was dialed in, and ready to defend it's lead in the class.